|
WW Metalfab find the genius in JETCAM
August 2002
WW Metalfab, based in Portland, Oregon has manufactured components for freightliner trucks and chassis for computers and printers for 25 year, amassing four different CADCAM systems to drive their range of Amada and Finn Power machines in the process. Complicated and bug-ridden, they also lacked the ability to competently drive all of the machines effectively, and was looking for a single solution that would also offer MRP and scheduling capabilities.
In 1995 they purchased the Finn Power with the Shear Genius right angle shear and chose JETCAM to also drive their other Amadas - since then they have seen a remarkable change in the way they control their production.
A single license of JETCAM Expert 3 was installed, allowing WW Metalfab to utilize automatic rectangular nesting of dissimilar parts, together with the ability to drive their Finn Power with Shear Genius right angle shear mechanism. One thing that was not missed after installation was the bugs in their previous software. Commented Minh Nguyen, Manufacturing Engineering, ?JETCAM is very stable in comparison to the other systems I have used. Also, whenever we get a maintenance update I never need to re-learn a new system as it is always consistent and designed to work to the way the engineer is used to.?
Running punching and combination machine gives a company complete flexibility in manufacturing, but this is only as flexible as the CAM system driving them. With JETCAM not only can WW Metalfab quickly move jobs between machines at any stage of the programming or nesting process regardless of the technology used (e.g. from punch to laser), but they can also take full advantage of JETCAM?s built in MRP system to meticulously schedule the machines? workload. Added Nguyen, ?I have complete flexibility in the way that I plan our production. If you have a basic computer knowledge you can adapt JETCAM?s MRP to work very similarly to your own way of working and automate your production control.?
Technically, they also noticed several small benefits which, added up made a noticeable difference. JETCAM postprocessors, many developed in conjunction directly with the machine tool manufacturer are configured to take advantage of each machines unique features - producing accurate code and components, and reducing programming, download and machine cycle time. Commented Nguyen, ?I think JETCAM is the best CAM software for the Finn Power as it makes the most of the Shear Genius. Also, with the Amada the automatic application of the G98 macro can reduce programs that might be up to 40,000 lines of code down to as little as 500. This is much faster to download and frees up more memory in the controller.?
WW Metalfab are continuing to expand their production capabilities but are confident that whatever the future brings, in terms of both machine and job requirements, JETCAM will be able to deliver. Minh Nguyen concluded, ?The beauty of JETCAM is its easy of use. There are not too many steps to program a job - too many steps can be confusing. It is simply more powerful that all of the other systems we used to use...?
|
|
Profile
View Map
Email
this page
12/May
Lamiera
07/Jun
MACH 2010
13/Sep
IMTS 2010